Railway tie hauling apparatus



1964 R. E. FRANKLIN ETAL 3,162,145

RAILWAY TIE HAULING APPARATUS Original Filed April 17, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet l III. [6 1 42 IN VENTORS.

Richard E. F ank/in Herbert G ox THE IR A TTOR/VEYS 1964 R. E. FRANKLINETAL 3,162,145

RAILWAY TIE HAULING APPARATUS Original Filed April 17, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. 5 Richard E F rank/in Fig 3 Herberf 6! FaxMaw/dz THE IR A TTOR/VE Y5 1964 R. E. FRANKLIN ETAL 3,162,145

RAILWAY TIE HAULING APPARATUS Original Filed April 17, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 3 3 A. MM 4 5s 59 ea; 54 g 53 56 62 INVENTORS? Richard E. Fan/rl/n Herberf C ox "1 Fig. 7 THE/R ATTORNEYS Dec. 22, 1964 R. E.FRANKLIN ETAL 3,162,145

RAILWAY TIE HAULING APPARATUS Original Filed April 17, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 4 Richard E Franklin BY Herberf C Fox THE/R A 7' TORNE Y5 NIO United States Patent Ofifice 3,162,145 Patented Dec. 22., 19643,162,145 RAILWAY TIE HAULING APPARATUS Richard E. Franklin, ChevyChase, Md., and Herbert C. Fox, Atlanta, Ga., assignors to RailwayMaintenance Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pin, a corporation of PennsylvaniaOriginal application Apr. 17, 1957, Ser. No. 653,315. Divided and thisapplication July 25, 1961, Ser. No. 132,517

Claims. (Cl. 105355) Our invention relates to a car for hauling railroadties. The car can be loaded and unloaded rapidly and efiiciently with aminimum of man power and hand labor.

Normally, railroad ties are hauled in gondola cars and unloaded manuallyby throwing the ties over the sides of the car at locations along thetrack where the ties are r to be used. The cost of handling the ties inthis manner is great because the ties are heavy and bulky, thusrequiring a great many men to unload the car. Furthermore, since theties are haphazardly thrown over the side of the car, they do notnormally land in aconvenient location for subsequent use.

Our invention avoids these difliculties by providing a tie hauling caropen at the top and with removable end bulkheads which permit the tiesto be loaded quickly and efficiently into the car by use of a mechanicalboom.

To unload .the car, the removable bulkheads are taken out and anunloading machine is operated inside the car to discharge the tiesthrough openings in the side of the car.

The unloading machine used inside the tie hauling car,

chine and one man outside the car to give signals, thus reducing laborcosts. Further, the ties are deposited along the track in a convenientlocation for subsequent use.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 653,315, filedApril 17, 1957, now Patent No. 3,048,289.

In the drawings, we have illustrated a preferred embodiment of ourinvention in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the tie car;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the tie car;

FIG. 3 is a cross section of the tie car taken on lines III-III ofFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the car showing the unloading machine inoperating position, with parts removed for clarity;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the movable rails for connecting two carstogether;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation of the movable rail shown in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a cross section taken on lines VII-VII of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of two cars (with parts removed for clarity)showing the movable rail in position between the cars.

Briefly, the tie car of the present invention is a special carconsisting of a flat floor with two side walls extending upwardly alongthe longitudinal edges of the floor. The ends of the car are open exceptfor removable bulkheads which are clamped in place to maintain a load ofties rigidly in position in the car. The side walls of the car haveopenings extending along their lengths at floor level to permit removalof ties from the car and the openposes. Two pairs of rails extendlongitudinally along the floor of the carone pair for maintaining theload of ties at an elevation above the floor and a second pair to guidean unloading machine which operates inside the cars to remove the ties.The rails in two adjacent cars may be joined by sections of movable railspanning the space between the cars to permit the unloading machine tomove from one car to the other.

A self-motivating tie unloader which operates within the tie car unloadsthe ties therefrom. The ties in the tie car are thrust through theelongated openings in the side walls of the car by means of a continuousrotating chain having fingers which engage the ties. The chain andfingers are mounted on and operable transversely of the front end of thetie unloader.

The frame of the tie car consists of elongated channel members 5extending the length of the car with a floor member 6 rigidly afiixedthereto. Side plates 7 and 8 are welded to the downwardly extending legsof channel 5 and have cross channels 9 extending between the plates tosupport the floor and maintain a rigid structure. The side walls consistof upwardly extending channels 10 welded at each end of the car toplates 7 and 8. Longitudinally extending channels 11 and'12 are affixedat each of their ends to channels 10. A side wall member 13 encloses thespace between the channels 10, 11, and 12 and is integral with andsupported by intermediate vertical channels 14. Channels 14 are afiixedat their upper and lower ends to channels 12 and 11, respectively.Suitable diagonally extending reinforcing members such as channels 15may be placed in any desirable location along the side walls to provideproper support therefor. Channel members 16 extend transversely at eachend of the car and rigidly connect the upper ends of the side wallstogether.

The whole car is mounted on wheels 17 in any conventional manner topermit the car to be moved along a railroad track.

A ladder 18 is provided at each end of the car to enable an operator toconveniently operate a camming mechanism described hereinafter.

The upper ends of plates 7 and 8 have angle members 19 and 20 weldedthereto to provide a fiat shelf and a plate 21 is welded to the angle2t) in a diagonal position to provide an incline from the floor plate 6to the angle 2 The angles 19 and 20 assist in maintaining the tieshorizontal during discharge from the car as described hereinafter.

An angularly bent plate 22 is welded to the inside of side wall member13 and directed inwardly in the manner shown in FIGURE 3. Plate 22assists in maintaining the stack of ties inside the car in properposition and alignment.

The longitudinally extending channel members 11 are located above theangles 19 and 20 and the channel members and angles form an elongatedopen'ing23 along the whole lower edge of each side wall member to permitdischarge of the ties contained on the car. As shown in FIGURE 4, thedistance between channel members 11 swingably'mounted by hinges 25 toeach channel member 11 such that, when the doors are in the loweredposition, there is not sufficient space below/the doors to permit a tieto shake loose from the load inside the car and slide out the openings23.

A door pin holder 26 is welded to the lower end of each door 24 andholes .27 are cut-in the phannels 11 to permit door pins 28 to beinserted through the holes 27 and into the door pin hloder 26, thuslocking the door in a closed position. The pins 28 are connected to thecar side wall by a chain Zi-and when the pin is not in use it is placedout of the way by inserting it into a wall ,pin holder 30. Thus thedoors 24 may be locked in a closed position to permit the car to be usedfor other purposes which require, that the side wall be substantiallyenclosed. It is also necessary to lock the door in closed position whilehauling railroad ties to avoid the possibility that one. of the ties mayshake loose from the load and slide out the opening. The doors aremaintained in open position by chains and hooks 31.

Two pairs of rails 32 and 33 are fixed to the floor of the car andextend in a longitudinal direction therealong. The pair of rails 32 havea greater elevation than the pair of rails 33 and are used to supportthe ties which have been loaded on the car in an elevated position abovethe floor member 6 withthe bottom tie in alignment with openings 23 inthe manner shown in lFlGU-RE 4. One

of the purposes of this elevated position is to permit a portion of anunloading machine34, as shown in FIG- URE 4, to move under the tie to beunloaded. A second purpose .is to keep' the ties from contacting rails33 since the ties are impregnated with creosote which would cause rails33 to become ,slipepry resulting in difliculty in operating theunloading machine on rails 33.

The unloading machine 34 mounted on wheels 35 operates. along the pairof rails 33 in removing the ties from the car, as shown in FIGURE 4.

' It is within the scope of the present invention that the rails 32 and33 be or" the same height if a different type of unloading machine is:used. It is also within the scope of this invention to use only pair ofrails in the car for use both .as a track for the unloading machine. andas an elevation means for the ties.

At each end of the railroad car, a pair of angle members 36 are weldedto the side plates 13 with their legs extending in a vertical direction,and an angle member 37 is welded horizontally to side members 13 betweenthe angles 36 to provide a three-sided enclosure for a horizontallyextendingremovable bulkhead 38 (see FIGURES l and 3). The bulkhead 38-ispositioned transversely across the car with each of its ends positionedon an angle 37 between two legs of angles 36. A bolt 39 is insertedthrough holes drilled in the legs of the angle 36 and a nutis-thrle'aded on the bolt 39, thus maintaining the bulkhead 38 in arigid position.

Between the cross channels '16 at each end of the car, angle members 40are welded with downwardly extending legs having holes drilled therein.A shaft 41 having eccentric camming members 32 a shown in FIGURE 7 isrotatably mounted in the holes. 'The earns 42 are 'alfixed to the shafts41 by means of set screws (not shown) thus preventing lateralmovementf'of shafts 41. T ,The ends of the shafts 41 are squared; asshown at 43, to permit turning :of the shafts and the aifixed cams 42 bymeans ofa wrench or the like.

Shafts 41 and cams 42 are located a sufticientdistance back'of thecenter channels 16 to permit the insertion of elongated bulkheads 44between the cams and channels 1 6. Thelower ends of the bulkheads 44 areinserted into holes 45 in the floor member 6. Below the hole 45, plates46 are welded to the floor member 6 to .form

a pocket which will :allow the bulkhead 44- to move. only a limited.direction below the floor members 6 in the mannershown in FIGURE 3.

Preferably, the removable bulkheads 53 and 44 are 4'" x 6 wooden post s;however, it is withinthescope ot the present invention to fabricate thebulkheads from any desirable materiall"In lus'ing wooden'bulkheads; it

is preferable'to aflixsteel plates 47. to the upper end of r thevertically extending. bulkheads 44 to prevent distintegrati'onfthereofdue'to the crushing action of the cam The rails 33 on two adjacent tiecars can be joined by inserting a removable rail to bridge the spacebetween the cars such that the unloading machine may move from one carto the next. FIGURE 5 is a plan view of two adjacent tie cars,designated by dashed lines, with the movable rail in position betweenthe cars. FIGURE 8 shows a side elevation view of the movable rail inposition.

The stationary rails on the lefthand car are designated 33 and thesimilar rails on the right-hand car are designated 33 in FIGURE 5.Underlying and extending beyond the ends of each of the rails 33 and 33is a shoe 48 consisting of a bottom plate 49 and side plates 50. Movablerails 51 extend longitudinally between the rails 33 and 33 and fitbetween the sides 5! of the shoe 4%. The rail 33, shown in the lowerleft-hand corner of FIG- URE 5, and rail 33 shown in the upperright-hand corner of FIGURE 5, have fingers 53 attached to each of themby nuts and bolts 54. The same rails 33 and 33 are cut out at 55 topermit the attachment of the finger 53. One end of each of the movablerails 51 is cut out at 56 to permit the insertion of the finger 53overlapping a portion of the rail 51. The other ends of the movablerails are cut out at 57 to permit the attachment of fingers 53 by nutsand bolts '59. The fingers 5d overlap the rails 33 and 33 in a cut-outportion 64} of the rails. The movable rails 51 are not of a lengthsufiicient to bridge the Whole distance between the rails 33 and 33 andthus leave a portion 61 open. This open portion 61 is necessary topermit the movable rail to slide a distance suflicient to allow thelower fiange of the movable rail 51 to be inserted underneath the finger53. it is also necessary that the movable rail have a degree of leewayto allow the two adjoining cars, between which the rail 51 is situated,the turn at angles relative to one another in navigating turns on curvedtrack. This leeway is provided by cut-out portions 62 on the movble railand cutout portions 63 on walls 56 of the shoes 48.

Operation The tie car is loaded with ties in any conventional manher,for example, by use of a mechanical boom. It is necessary that the tiesmaintain a substantially transverse position within the tie car topermit proper unloading by the tie unloader.

Prior to the loading of the tie car, the doors 24 are swung to thelowered position as shown in the left-hand portion of FIGURE 3 andlooked there by pin 28 being inserted through holes 27 and into the doorpin holders 26. It is also necessary that the bulkheads be positioned ineach end of the car to maintain the load of ties in proper position. Ateach end of the car, the bulkheads 38 are inserted between the legs ofthe angles 36 and come to rest against the legs of the angles 37. Thebulkhead 33 is in a transverse position as shown in FIG- U-RE 3. A bolt3 is inserted through holes in the legs of the angles 36 .and a nut istightened thereon to maintain the movable bulkhead 38 in rigid position.The movable bulkheads 4-4- are then inserted vertically between the camsurface 42 and the cross channels 16 with their lower ends in holes 45in the plate 6 and abutting against the plate 46. At this time, thebulkheads 44 will have the position illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 8. Theshaft 41 is then rotated to move the cam 42 from the position shown inthe right-hand portion of FIGURE 8 to the position-shown in theleft-hand portion of FIGURE 8, thus locking the bulkheads 44 rigidly inposition.

The carload of ties is then conveyed to the general area where it isdesired to unload some or all of the ties.

To unload the ties:

The earns 42 are rotated to release the bulkheads 44 at one end of thecar and the bulkheads 44 are removed. Then, at the same end of the car,nuts and bolts 39 are removed and removable bulkhead 38 is disengagedfrom the angles 36 and 37 and removed from the car.

The pins 28 are pulled upwardly to release the doors 24 from thevertical position. The pins are inserted into wall pin holders 30 toplace them out of the way. The doors 24 are swung to the horizontalposition, as shown in the right-hand portion of FIGURE 3, and maintainedthere by chains and hooks 31. An unloading machine is then positioned onthe rails 33 at the end of the car where the bulkheads have been removedand it proceeds to throw the ties 64 transversely out the opening 23 inthe side of the car in the manner shown in FIGURE 4.

The tie unloader is moved forward on rails 33 by the operator sitting onseat 162 actuating a manual valve to deliver pressurized fluid from apump to a hydraulic propulsion motor. The forward motion of the tieunloader is stopped when a stack of ties is engaged. The operator thensecures the tie unloader in a rigid position on rails 33 by means ofrail clamps.

After the tie unloader is secured to the rails the operator activatesthe kicker chain on the tie unloader until the kicker head plate on thekicker chain engages the bottom tie in the stack and moves ittransversely of the machine and tie car through one of the elongatedopenings 23. The tie is maintained in a horizontal position during itsdischarge by the angles 19 and 20 on the tie car and the plate 139 onthe tie unloader. When all but the last tie in the stack has beenunloaded, the wheel 137 on the tie unloader engages with the uppersurface of the last tie. Thus, the last tie during its transversemovement'through the opening 23 is prevented from tilting downward onthe outside of the tie car after its center of gravity has passedoutward beyond the angle 19 on the side wall of the tie car.

After the entire stack of ties has been discharged through the openingin the tie car, the rail clamp is released piston rod 152 inwardly intothe cylinder 81, thus moving the rail and the tie unloader is movedforward into engagement with the next stack of ties and the procedure isrepeated until the tie car is unloaded.

After all the ties have been removed from one car, it is necessary thatthe unloading machine be moved forward to the next loading tie car. Toaccomplish this, the bulkheads 38 and 44 are removed in the mannerdescribed above from the other end of the car which has just beenunloaded to permit the unloading machine 34 to pass. The movable track51 is then inserted to bridge the space between the two cars by slidingthe lower flange of the movable rail under the finger 53 attached torail 33 until the rail 51 moves downwardly into position between thesides 50 of the shoe 48. At this point, the finger 58 will overlap aportion of the rail 33 The same procedure is followed to insert thesecond movable rail to join the other rails 33 and 33 except that thelower flange of the movable rail 51 is inserted under the finger 53attached to the rail 33 The bulkheads 38 and 44 in the forward loadedcar are then removed from one end of the car in the same manner asdescribed above by unlocking the cam 42 and removing the nuts and bolts3?. After the bulkheads have been removed, the unloading machine 34moves forward over the movable track between the cars and unloads theties 64 from the forward car. This procedure is repeated until all thecars have been unloaded.

The tie car may be moving continuously during the unloading procedurewith a second man outside the car to indicate to the operator of theunloading machine when a tie should be unloaded.

It may be seen from the above description that the present inventioninvolves a novel tie car which requires a minimum of manual labor tounload. Each of the tie cars is of large capacity and normally holdsabout 400 ties. Each car can be unloaded in about 45 minutes.

The ties are loaded into the tie car in any known manner in maintainingthe tie in a horizontal position until it is clear of the car. This,plus the fact that the ties are unloaded at floor level instead of overthe side of a gondola car and, therefore, have a shorter distance tofall, makes it possible to control the placing of the ties moreaccurately.

While we have described a present preferred embodiment of our invention,it is to be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within thescope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A car for hauling railroad ties to a point of use along a railroadtrack and adapted to carry the ties one above the other in a pluralityof stacks with the ties arranged transversely of the car and the sticksarranged along the length of the car comprising a floor member mountedon wheels for operation along a railroad track, side wall membersextending upwardly from the longitudinal edges of the floor member, eachof said side Wall members having an elongated opening therethroughextending substantially throughout the length of the car and locatedadjacent the fioor member, the height of said openings being slightlygreater than the height of an individual tie and substantially less thanthe height of a pair of stacked ties to permit only said individual tieto be discharged from the car and bulkheads removably supported at eachend of the floor member and constituting the ends of the car to maintainties with the car when in place and to permit ready access to the car byan unloading machine when removed.

2. A car for hauling ties as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of saidsidewall members has a door mounted thereon to close the openingtherethrough until ties are to be discharged from the car, and a lockingmeans for each door to maintain the door in a closed or open position.

3. A car for hauling ties as set forth in claim 1 includinglongitudinaly extending rails positioned on the floor member along whicha tie unloading machine is adapted to operate when said bulkhead hasbeen removed to provide access to the car, and further longitudinallyextending rails positioned on said floor member to maintain the tiesabove the floor member to permit a portion of a tie unloading machine toextend under a stack of ties and to permit an unloading machine tosequentially discharge the lowermost tie in each stack through saidopening, said opening being located with respect to the railsmaintaining the ties above the floor member so that the bottom tie of astack is aligned with the opening.

4. A car for hauling ties as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rails formaintaining the ties above the floor member extend a greater distanceabove the floor member than the rails for carrying a tie unloadingmachine.

5. A tie hauling car as set forth in claim 3 including movable railsadapted to be positioned to bridge a space between two adjacent cars soas to permit an unloading machine to travel between adjacent cars, andmeans to clamp said movable rails to the longitudinally extending railsfor carrying a tie unloading machine on the floor member.

6. A car for hauling railroad ties adapted to carry the ties one abovethe other in a plurality of stacks with the ties arranged transverselyof the car and the stacks arranged along the length of-the carcomprising a floor member mounted on wheels for operation along arailroad track, side wall members extending upwardly from thelongitudinal edges of the floor member, each of said side wall membershaving an elongated opening extending over the major portion of thelength thereof and positioned adjacent the floor member to receive thebottom tie of the stack, the vertical dimension of said openings beingslightly greater than the height of the maximum size tie adapted to bedischarged .therethrough a pair of spaced longitudinally extending railspositioned on said floor member to maintain the bottom tie in each ofsaid stacks spaced above the floor member and in alignernent with saidopenings, whereby the portion of said side Wall members adjacent theupper edge of said openings is adapted to abut the next to the bottomtie in a stack when the bottom tie of the stack is unloaded through oneof said openings and the angle of a tie passing out of the car throughone of the openings is limited with respect to a horizontal plane by theheight of the open ings as the tie engages the upper and lower edges ofthe opening through which it is unloaded.

7. A car for hauling railroad ties as set forth in claim 6 wherein firstand second elongated right angle members are atfixed to each of the sideWall members of the car adjacent the lower edge of theelongatedopenings; the vertical leg of the first angle member beingaffixed to the outer surface of the wall member and the vertical leg ofthe second angle member being affixed to the inner surface of the Wallmember and the horizontal leg of the first and second angle memberslying in the same horizontal plane as the upper surface of said rails,whereby a shelf is formed by said horizontal legs aligned with the uppersurface of said rails to help maintain a tie passing through saidopenings at a limited angle relative to a horizontal plane.

8. A car for hauling ties comprising a flat, elongated floor membermounted on wheels for operation along a track, side walls extendingupwardly from the longitudinal edges of the floor member, removablebulkhead means positioned between the side walls at each end of the carand fonming the ends of the car, the lower ends of said bulkhead meansextending into recesses in the floor member and the upper ends beingclamped rigidly with respect to the side walls, each of the side wallshaving an opening in the lower portion thereof for removing the tiesfrom the car the vertical dimension of said openings being such thatonly one tie at a time can pass therethrough, elongated members fixed tothe floor member to maintain the ties above the iioor member, and railspositioned longitudinally within the car for operation of an unloadingmachine therealong.

9, A car for hauling ties as set forth in claim 8 including a pair ofspaced channels extending transversely at each end of the car andrigidly connecting the upper edges of the side walls together, aplurality of rotatably mounted eccentric cams afiixed to the channels torigidly clamp the upper ends of said bulkhead means with respect to saidside walls and said channels, each of said cams being positioned tooverlie one of said recesses in the floor member.

10. A car for hauling ties as set forth in claim 8 where in the bulkheadmeans consist of a plurality of vertical members having their lower endsextending into said recesses and having their upper ends rigidly heldbetween the upper edge of the side Walls by quick release clampingmeans, and at least one horizontal member extending between and rigidlysupported by the side walls.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 888,647 5/09 Otisl05-258 986,207 3/11 Otis 105 25s 1,259,426 3/18 Meindel 1053781,318,550 10/19 Gregg 105 37s 1,361,896 12/20 Norman 105378 2,052,8679/36 Cartzdatneretal 105 -259 2,819,688 1/58 Hall.

2,858,774 ll/SS Batten 1G5-367 2,911,925 11/59 Adler an 105-376 LEOQUACKENBUSH, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No;3,162,145 December 22, 1964 Richard E. Franklin et a1.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patentrequiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read ascorrected below Column 3, line 34, after 'only" insert one line 52, for"32 a" read 42 as column 4, line 35,f0r "the" read to column 5, lines 35and 36, strike out "piston rod 152 inwardly into the cylinder 81, thusmoving the rail"; column 6, line 15, for "sticks" read stacks Signed andsealed this 11th day of May 1965.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST- W. SWIDER EDWARD J. BRENNER Attcsting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

8. A CAR FOR HAULING TIES COMPRISING A FLAT, ELONGATED FLOOR MEMBERMOUNTED ON WHEELS FOR OPERATION ALONG A TRACK, SIDE WALLS EXTENDINGUPWARDLY FROM THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE FLOOR MEMBER, REMOVABLEBULKHEAD MEANS POSITIONED BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS AT EACH END OF THE CARAND FORMING THE ENDS OF THE CAR, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID BULKHEAD MEANSEXTENDING INTO RECESSES IN THE FLOOR MEMBER AND THE UPPER ENDS BEINGCLAMPED RIGIDLY WITH RESPECT TO THE SIDE WALLS, EACH OF THE SIDE WALLSHAVING AN OPENING IN THE LOWER PORTION THEREOF FOR REMOVING THE TIESFROM THE CAR THE VERTICAL DIMENSION OF SAID OPENINGS BEING SUCH THATONLY ONE TIE AT A TIME CAN PASS THERETHROUGH, ELONGATED MEMBERS FIXED TOTHE FLOOR MEMBER TO MAINTAIN, THE TIES ABOVE THE FLOOR MEMBER, AND RAILSPOSITIONED LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN THE CAR FOR OPERATION OF AN UNLOADINGMACHINE THEREALONG.